ST. LOUIS — The most recent iteration of the XFL turned out to be a big deal in football-starved St. Louis. And soon, we could get an idea if the BattleHawks could fly again.
The league shut down at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and was then sold to a group that included wrestling and entertainment mogul Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
Johnson recently appeared on CNBC to talk about his tequila business and new ventures, and did share a nugget about incoming XFL announcements.
"We should maybe within the next month or maybe two months be announcing our broadcast partners, which we're very excited about. New teams, new cities and we're very excited about that. As a former player myself what an opportunity it is to create an opportunity for other players to live out their dream and take care of their families."
Johnson also took to Instagram to update fans on the progress of the new XFL, which is slated to relaunch in 2023.
"And finally, for all us PRO FOOTBALL FANS ~ we are a little over one year away from the exciting and highly anticipated 2023 spring football debut of our XFL 🏈 🏆 We have taken the time to build out a truly exceptional and hungry football organization. At the top of 2022, we’ll be excited and proud to announce our new broadcast partners, new teams, new cities, new innovations, new alignments and much more. As an XFL owner and a man who’s NFL dream never came true, this is a full circle passion venture for me where now I can help create opportunities for players to live out THEIR DREAMS and take care of their families. Here’s to building out the game of football," Johnson wrote on Instagram.
With the success of the XFL in St. Louis with the BattleHawks, it's expected the city would again host a team in the revamped league come 2023.
St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission said in 2020 that the league and St. Louis had been in preliminary talks about returning to town.